'Smoke Them Out' Policy Leaves Dozens of Miners Dead

At least 87 miners are dead, and dozens more bodies may remain underground—the brutal outcome of a protracted dispute at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa. The issue revolves around the practice of illegal miners—known as zama zamas—venturing down into abandoned mines to look for gold. The government has vowed to stamp out the practice, and the issue came to a head at the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine in Stilfontein, 100 miles southwest of Johannesburg, reports the Wall Street Journal. Details:

• The start: In August, an estimated 2,000 illegal miners were working in the mine when police moved in, reports the AP. A Cabinet minister says the plan was to "smoke them out," and police cut off supply lines, sealed entrances, and stationed officers at the remaining exits to arrest any who surfaced. Police also are accused of dismantling a pulley system used by the miners to enter and exit the mine.

• Rescue begins: Community members and human rights activists took up the miners' cause, and a court ordered police in December to start allowing food and water to be sent down, per Al Jazeera. Last week, another court order stipulated that a rescue operation begin. Since Monday, 78 bodies have been brought up via a special cage, bringing the death toll to date to 87. About 250 emaciated-looking survivors have been pulled out so far.
• The scene: Bloomberg on the grisly scene: "At the site in Stilfontein, the smell of rotting corpses clung to those who were rescued, while emaciated teenagers emerged from the shaft, bones protruding from their small frames," writes S'thembile Cele. "Images provided by civil rights groups from inside the mine showed bodies piled on top of each other, some in pools of blood."
• Too late? "If the police had acted earlier, we would not be in this situation, with bodies piling up," community leader Johannes Qankase tells the AP. "It is a disgrace for a constitutional democracy like ours. Somebody needs to account for what has happened here."
• Consequences: The numbers remain murky, but most of the miners are believed to have gotten out of the mine on their own through arduous climbs over the last few months. The final death toll will take a while to crystallize. Authorities face growing anger over the situation, particularly Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the minister of state security who voiced the "smoke them out" strategy as concerns were rising about the miners' fates. The prominent Democratic Alliance party has called for a government inquiry, per Al Jazeera.

(More South Africa stories.)